Film-viewing in Turkish and Moroccan diasporic families: a gender and place perspective

Abstract

This article explores the relation between gender identities and spatial aspects of audience reception by means of a case study on film-viewing in the Turkish and Moroccan diasporic communities in the Belgian city of Antwerp. Drawing on feminist and gender approaches to audience reception on the one hand, and research into the spatial dynamics underlying audience reception on the other, we look at film-viewing as a socially and spatially meaningful practice that is relevant for the understanding of gender identities in diasporic families. This article is based on the results of a four-year project on diasporic film cultures in Antwerp that investigated how film-viewing practices relate to social and cultural dynamics within the Turkish and Moroccan communities. The data that are discussed include participant observations, in-depth interviews and group interviews with a varied sample of people with Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds. The results show that although film-viewing, especially in the public space of the film theatre, can be mobilized by women as an emancipating social practice, gendered power structures often prevail. Also in the domestic contexts, a more traditional gender division is articulated by the respondent concerning family viewing. We conclude that the space of the film theatre and film-going serve the continuity and stability of gendered family relations, rather than subverting them.

Ver películas en las familias de las diásporas marroquí y turca: una perspectiva de género y lugar

Este artículo analiza la relación entre las identidades de género y los aspectos espaciales de la recepción de audiencia por medio de un estudio de caso de la visualización de películas en las comunidades de las diásporas marroquí y turca en la ciudad belga de Antwerp. Basándonos en abordajes feministas y de género a la recepción de audiencia por un lado, e investigación en la dinámica espacial que subyace la recepción de la audiencia por el otro, analizamos la práctica de mirar películas como una práctica espacialmente y socialmente significativa, que es relevante para comprender las identidades de género en las familias de la diáspora. Este artículo está basado en los resultados de un proyecto de cuatro años de duración sobre las culturas del cine en Antwerp que investigó cómo las prácticas de mirar películas se relacionan con la dinámica social y cultural dentro de las comunidades turca y marroquí. Los datos que se discuten se obtuvieron por medio de observación participativa, entrevistas en profundidad y entrevistas grupales con una muestra variada de personas con ascendencia turca y marroquí. Los resultados muestran que si bien la práctica de la visualización de películas, especialmente en el espacio público del cine, puede ser movilizada por las mujeres como práctica social emancipadora, con frecuencia las estructuras de poder generizadas predominan. Además en los contextos domésticos, una división de género más tradicional se articula por parte de lxs entrevistadxs en cuanto a la visualización en familia. Concluimos que el espacio del cine y de concurrir al cine sirven a la continuidad y estabilidad de las relaciones familiares generizadas, en vez de subvertirlas.

土耳其和摩洛哥离散家庭的电影观赏：性别与地方的视角

本文对比利时安特卫普的土耳其与摩洛哥离散社群的电影观赏进行案例研究，藉此探讨观众接收中，性别认同与空间面向之间的关係。我们一方面运用以女性主义及性别方法研究观众接收之取径，另一方面运用强调观众接收的空间动态之研究，将电影观赏视为在社会及空间上皆具有意义的实践，且与理解离散家庭中的性别认同息息相关。本文是根据一个探讨安特卫普离散电影文化的四年计画之研究结果，该计画探讨电影观赏实践，如何与土耳其及摩洛哥社群中的社会及文化动态相关。探讨的信息，包含对具有土耳其和摩洛哥背景的各类受访者样本进行参与式观察、深度访谈与团体访谈。研究结果显示，儘管电影观赏——特别是在电影院的公共空间中——能够被女性动员作为解放的社会实践，但性别化的权力结构仍然相当盛行。同时，在家户的脉络中，有关家庭观赏方面，受访者表达了更为传统的性别划分。我们于结论中主张，电影院的空间与看电影，维繫并稳定了性别化的家庭关係，而非对其进行颠覆。

Keywords::

• film-viewing
• diaspora
• power
• family
• public and private space
• media reception

Palabras claves::

• visualización de películas
• diáspora
• poder
• familia
• espacio público y privado
• recepción de medios

关键词::

• 电影观赏
• 离散
• 权力
• familia
• 家庭
• 公共与私人空间
• 媒体接收

Acknowledgements

This research was partly funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and the Special Research Fund (BOF) of the University of Antwerp. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. Special thanks also goes to Iris Vandevelde and Afra Dekie who commented on earlier versions of the article, and to all the people who agreed to take part in the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Email: [email protected]

^3. Email: [email protected]

^4. Self-selected pseudonyms are used to guarantee the privacy of respondents.

^5. The term homeland is employed here in a very broad sense to refer to the localities and areas of origins that people identify with, and not to existing countries per se. For instance among the Moroccan diaspora, feelings of belonging and origin are often more linked to sub-national or supra-national entities (e.g. Berberity, Arab world), as was argued elsewhere (Smets 2012a).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kevin Smets

Kevin Smets currently holds a postdoctoral fellowship from the Flemish Research Council, and is based at the Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp. His PhD research, which was finalized in 2013, dealt with film culture in diasporic communities.

Sofie Van Bauwel

Sofie Van Bauwel is Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication Studies, Ghent University, where she teaches on cultural media studies, gender and media and television studies. Her main field of interest is gender, media and film and television. She was vice-chair of the Gender and Communication section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) between 2006 and 2012, and is part of the editorial board of the Journal of Media Theory.

Philippe Meers

Philippe Meers is Associate Professor at the Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, where he is head of department. He has published widely on film culture and is co-editor of several recent books on new cinema history and film audiences. He has supervised a number of large-scale research projects on film culture and served as the chair of the Film Studies section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA). He is also a founding member of the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) and the Network on History of Movie-going, Exhibition, and Reception Project (HoMER).

Roel Vande Winkel

Roel Vande Winkel is Associate Professor at the Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, and LUCA School of Arts. He is an affiliated researcher at the KU Leuven and Associate Editor of the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. He has edited several volumes on film censorship and film history. His main research interests are film history (1933–1945), newsreels, media and propaganda and historical films.